Nextspace is now in Chicago. It’s a big deal. Why? For a lot of reasons.
First, Nextspace is the best co-working space in California. They have a lot of things figured out. Running a co-work space isn’t rocket science, but no one runs a good co-work space by throwing furniture in a room and seeing what happens.
They figured these things out in the largest entrepreneurial petri dish in the world, and also the most competitive.
Second, Nextspace picked Chicago as a good hub to expand from. Their move to River North won’t be the last thing they do here or in the midwest. Already, I know a lot of investors and potential clients speaking to them about establishing a Nextspace in their community. The secret sauce behind Nextspace will eventually have a “Starbucks effect” on entrepreneurial ecosystems and neighborhoods. If you are interested I am happy to make a free introduction.
Third, Nextspace becomes a building block in the Chicago and midwestern ecosystem. There is a lot going on here and a lot of demand for what Nextspace has to offer. It’s not just paint and furniture. There is a lot more there. Silicon Valley still is the best entrepreneurial ecosystem in the world, but there are others and Nextspace recognizes that.
We can have all these virtual connections over all kinds of points on the web. We can learn a lot about people. But, it’s not a strong connection until we meet in person. If everyone were able to do things virtually, flights wouldn’t be booked and physical meetings wouldn’t be important. People would just skype all the time. There is something about being in a physical proximity to a person, and engaging with them that is far different than what happens virtually.
I can easily choose to ignore or turn you off virtually. I can’t do that when we are in the same room.
For those that wonder what co-working is about, here is a short video.
Ten years from now, the world of work will look fundamentally different than it does today. The way we as people interact with what we know as “work” will change. There are productivity advantages to spending money to be in a co-work space, and not work for free in a messy random coffee shop.
Paypal is redoing its entire headquarters. One of the reasons is the workplace has changed. Their CEO is designing it to look like a Nextspace. In his words, it was do that or see the company die.
Workspace can be seen as a commodity, or maybe it isn’t?
In many cases, it will be much easier for corporations and educational institutions to simply outsource their office needs to Nextspace so they can help them manage them for creativity and innovation. Not everyone has the DNA of Google, but they would like to inject some of it into their company. Nextspace can provide a path to do that.
Many people in America want to see a revolution in education. They are stymied by unions and by physical buildings. Nextspace provides a versatile alternative because education really is co-working.
Over the past year, I have done a lot of diligence and looking into the ins and outs of co-working. It is an international movement. Personally, I worked in one of the original co-working spaces ever designed-a trading floor. The trading floor was the best network ever known to mankind.
It’s why businesses like Nextspace and Desktime will see massive growth in the coming years. This movement isn’t a flash in the pan. It’s why I invested in both of them.
Here is an older video of Becca talking about Nextspace San Francisco.
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